Rampage of the apes! Starving monkeys stampede in Thailand after coronavirus keeps feeders away

Sometimes, life really does imitate art before flinging its own feces at you. Based on a viral tweet posted by the Daily Mail, primates may soon be inheriting the Earth in a real-life Planet of the Apes situation.

In the video seen in the social post below, two "rival gangs" of hungry monkeys take over the streets of Lopburi, Thailand, to fight over scraps of food. The tourists from Malaysia and China who usually feed the local, temple-dwelling simians aren't there because of the growing coronavirus issue. In fact, tourism in the country is allegedly down 44 percent, which is directly affecting monkey populations all around Thailand, which have come to rely on sustenance from visitors.

"They looked more like wild dogs than monkeys. They went crazy for the single piece of food. I've never seen them this aggressive," Sasaluk Rattanacha, who reportedly saw the whole frenzy from the Lopburi shop in which she works, told the Daily Mail.

Of course, the good people of Twitter saw this as a prime[ate] opportunity to remind us that a global pandemic is exactly what allowed crazed monkeys to take over in 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes. If you see a chimp, gorilla, or orangutan start speaking and rallying the troops, toss a banana over your shoulder to appease them before running far, far away.

Whatever you do, though, please don't take a page out of the Charlton Heston playbook and refer to our new overlords as "damn" or "dirty."

Wes Ball may want to look into making a documentary instead of a straight-up reboot of the Apes franchise now. Speaking of, the director actually retweeted a post that jokingly reads: "I see @wesball has gotten the cameras rolling on the latest Planet of the Apes film."

This story presents some humorous responses to coronavirus, but COVID-19 is very real! Please exercise caution out there: wash those hands, keep them away from your face, and practice social distancing. For extensive information on how to keep you and your loved ones safe, check out the CDC’s coronavirus website.